What happens when the laws that are supposed to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault become turned against them? Survivors can be criminalized for reacting in self-defense, participating in criminal activity under their abusers’ coercion, or for failing to protect their children from witnessing or being impacted by violence in the home. Survivors of color, who struggle with mental health or substance dependency, or who otherwise don’t fold the “perfect victim” mold are disproportionately incarcerated. In this workshop, API-GBV will be joined by Hyejin Shim and Neda Said of Survived & Punished, who will guide participants through a discussion of the criminalization of survivors, and how advocates can support criminalized survivors.
Objectives:
- Understand how gender violence contributes and leads to criminalization for women of color, immigrant, Asian, and other marginalized communities
- Grow awareness around criminalization of survival
- Explore ways to better serve survivors who have experienced or are experiencing criminalization
